Up and down binary counter



Oct. 21, 1969 R. H. BELLMAN 3,473,546

UP AND DOWN BINARY COUNTER Filed Jan. 2, 1968 INVENTOR. -Robert H. Bellman ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,473,546 UP AND DOWN BINARY COUNTER Robert H. Bellman, Horseheads, N.Y., assignor to Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 2, 1968, Ser. No. 695,073 Int. Cl. F15c 1/14 US. Cl. 137-81.5 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An up and down binary counter. The counter comprising a plurality of stages, each one of which is coupled to the next by a series connected fluidic exclusive gate and fluidic NOR gate combination.

. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Fluidic binary counters have been known, as for example, that taught in my patent application Ser. No. 550,286, filed May 16, 1966, and now abandoned. An up and down counter has particular utility for machine control such as, for example, controlling the position of an X-Y table. Another application for an up and down binary counter is to control bin storage by counting up when a part comes into the bin and down when a part is taken out.

A NOR gate is a fluidic device wherein inlet or power stream is directed substantially entirely to oneof two outlet passages. The device has a plurality of control nozzles disposed such that a fluid signal applied to any one of them will cause the power stream to be deflected to the other outlet passage. The outlet passage through which the stream ordinarily passes when no fluid signal is applied to the control nozzle is called the NOR outlet, while the outlet to which the power stream is deflected by a fluid signal passing through one or more of the control nozzles is called the OR outlet.

An exclusive gate is a fluidic device having a pair of inlet nozzles and a pair of outlet passages. Each power stream emitted individually by one of the inlet nozzles is intercepted by a single outlet passage. When a power stream is emitted from both inlet nozzles, each stream deflects the other and neither stream is intercepted by either of the outlet passages but rather both are vented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects of the present invention are to provide a simple, direct, and inexpensive staged fluidic up and down counter which provides the hereinabove noted advantages.

Briefly, according to the present invention, an up and down counter is provided comprising a plurality of binary counter stages, the stages being coupled to each other by a series connected exclusive gate and NOR gate combination. The NOR outlet passage of the NOR gate is connected to the inlet of the second stage. One of the inlet passages of the exclusive gate is connected to the first outlet passage of the first counter stage while the pair of outlet passages of the exclusive gate are con-, nected to the control nozzles of the fluid operated NOR gate. A source of fluid signals is connected to the other inlet nozzle of the exclusive gate to control the direction in which the counter will count.

Additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the 3,473,546 Patented Oct. 21, 1969 art from the following detailed description and the attached drawing on which, by way of example, only the preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The only figure is a schematic diagram of a staged up and down counter of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION By the term fluid as used herein is meant any compressible fluid such as air, nitrogen, or other gases or incompressible fluids such as water or the like, which fluids may contain solid particles. This invention is not limited to any particular fluid.

The drawing illustrates the fluid operated up and down counter of the present invention which includes a first stage binary counter 10 and a second stage binary counter 12. These stages may be any type of counter stages such as the binary fluid pulse counter described in my heretofore noted abandoned application Ser. No. $50,286. It may also be any binary fluid counter wherein a fluid signal is first passed through one outlet and then the other in response to successive pulses applied to the inlet of the stage. Binary counter stage 10 is shown with the inlet connected to a suitable source 14 of pulses to be counted. Stage 10 is also provided with outlet passages 16 and 18. Similarly binary counter stage 12 has an inlet 20 and a pair of outlet passages 22 and 24.

Exclusive gate 26 has a pair of inlet nozzles 28 and 30 and a pair of outlet passages 32 and 34. These elements are arranged such that the stream emitting from inlet nozzle 28 will be intercepted by outlet passage 34 unless otherwise deflected. Similarly the power stream emitted from inlet nozzle 30 will be intercepted by outlet passage 32. In conjunction with exclusive gate 26 is shown a fluid signal source 36 connected to inlet nozzle 30.

NOR gate 38 is shown having an inlet nozzle 40 a pair of control nozzles 42 and 44, NOR outlet 46 and OR outlet 48. Inlet nozzle 40 of NOR gate 38 is connected to a suitable source 50 of fluid.

Outlet passage 16 of the first binary counter stage 10 is connected to inlet nozzle 28 of exclusive gate 26. Outlet passages 32 and 34 of exclusive gate 26 are connected to control nozzles 42 and 44 of NOR gate 38. NOR outlet passage 46 of NOR gate 38 is connected to inlet 20 of the second binary counter stage 12.

Outlet passage 18 of first binary counter stage 10 and outlet passage 24 of second binary counter stage 12 are connected to a suitable utilization device 52 such as a binary counter indicator means. Such an indicator means may be a spring loaded flag device which counts and indicates the number of pulses received. Outlet passage 22 of second binary counter stage 12 would ordinarily be connected to the next counter stage, not shown. The fluid flow in passage 22 would serve as the input to the next stage. In order to make all the stages count both up and down, a similar arrangement of an exclusive gate and a NOR gate would be provided between the second stage and the third stage and so on.

The operation of the up and down counter of the present invention is as follows. A suitable source 14 of fluid pulses is connected to the inlet of the first binary stage 10 and a fluid signal source 36 is connected to inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26. Source 36 is one which provides the continuous power stream which may be interrupted by suitable means. Therefore, a power stream may be emitted from inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26 or may be turned off completely. Also, a suitable source 50 of fluid is connected to inlet nozzle 40 of NOR gate 38 to provide a continuous power stream.

For the purposes of this description it is assumed that initially the outlet flow from binary counter stage 10 is through outlet passage 16 and the outlet flow of second binary stage 12 is through outlet passage 22. The circuit will first be described in connection with the counting up procedure and, accordingly, fluid signal source 36 is turned on so that a power stream is emitted from inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26. In this condition, the streams emitted from inlet nozzles 28 and 30 of exclusive gate 26 will deflect one another and neither stream will pass to outlet passages 32 and 34 thereof. Therefore, the power stream emitted from inlet nozzle 40 of NOR gate 38 will pass through NOR outlet 46 since a fluid signal is not available at either control nozzle 42 or 44 thereof.

As the first pulse is provided by source 14 the fluid stream passing through outlet passage 16 of first binary counter stage 10 will be switched to outlet passage 18. When flow ceases through outlet passage 16 the stream emitted through inlet nozzle 28 of exclusive gate 26 shall cease. Thereupon the stream emitted from inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26 will be intercepted by outlet passage 32 thereof and be transmitted to control nozzle 44 of NOR gate 38. The power stream emitted from inlet nozzle 40 of NOR gate 38, which has heretofore been flowing through NOR outlet passage 46, will be caused to switch to OR outlet passage 48 by the control fluid available at control nozzle 44. This will cause the fluid of second binary counter stage 12 to continue to be emitted through outlet passage 22 since binary counter stages do not switch when the inlet fluid is terminated rather switch when a new pulse is provided thereto.

Assuming that the initial condition of utilization device 52 indicated a reading, when the fluid emitted from first binary counter stage was switched to outlet passage 18 the utilization device 52 would now indicate a reading of 1.

When the second pulse is provided by source 14 to first binary counter stage 10 the output is again switched and will now flow through outlet passage 16 and cease to flow in outlet passage 18. This will result in no control fluid flow available at nozzles 42 or 44 of NOR gate 38 since the streams emitted from inlet nozzles 28 and 30 of exclusive gate 26 will deflect one another preventing either of them to be intercepted by outlet passages 32 and 34. Since no control fluid flow is available at NOR gate 38 the power stream will switch from OR outlet passage 48 to NOR outlet passage 46. This will provide a new pulse for second binary counter stage 12 causing the outlet fluid flow to switch from outlet passage 22 to outlet passage 24. Utilization device 52 is, therefore, provided with a signal only from the second binary counter stage 12 and this signal can be given the value 2. When source 14 provides a third signal pulse the outlet flow from first binary counter stage 10 will be switched again to outlet passage 18. Again the stream emitted from inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26 will be intercepted by outlet passage 32 thereof providing a control fluid at control nozzle 44 of NOR gate 38 whereupon the power stream emitted from outlet passage 46 of NOR gate 38 will be switched to outlet passage 48 thereof. The outlet from second binary stage 12 will continue to flow through outlet passage 24. This will provide utilization device 52 with a pulse indicating a reading of 1 transmitted through outlet passage 18 of first binary counter stage 10 and a pulse indicating a reading of 2 transmitted through outlet passage 24 of second binary counter stage 12 or a total reading of 3.

The down counting procedure will now be described. For the purpose of this description it is assumed that the stream emitted through inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26 is terminated by turning off the fluid signal source 36 and that the counter is in such condition as to result in an indication of 3 by the utilization device. In this condition the outlet fluid from first binary counter stage 10 will flow through outlet passage 18 and the outlet fluid from second binary counter stage 12 will flow through outlet passage 24. When the next pulse is provided by pulse source 14 the outlet flow from first binary counter stage 10 will switch from outlet passage 18 to outlet passage 16. This flow will be emitted from inlet nozzle 28 of exclusive gate 26 and be intercepted by outlet passage 34 thereof. This will provide a control fluid flow at control nozzle 42 of NOR gate 38 causing the power stream to be deflected from NOR outlet passage 46 to OR outlet passage 48. Since this merely cuts off the fluid from second binary counter stage 12, the outlet fluid from this stage will continue to pass through outlet passage 24. Since the fluid flow through outlet passage 18 of first binary counter stage 10 has been terminated the utilization device 52 will be provided a flow only from second binary counter stage 12 through outlet passage 24 which represents a reading of 2.

The next pulse provided by source 14 will again switch the outlet fluid flow from outlet passage 16 to outlet passage 18 of first binary counter stage 10 terminating the flow through inlet nozzle 28 of exclusive gate 26. Since no control fluid flow is available through either control nozzles 42 or 44 of NOR gate 38, the power stream emitted from inlet nozzle 40 of NOR gate 38 will be switched from OR outlet passage 48 to NOR outlet passage 46 providing a signal to inlet 20 of second binary counter stage 12. The outlet fluid flow from second binary counter stage 12 will then be switched from outlet passage 24 to outlet passage 22 thereof. This condition will provide a fluid flow to utilization device 52 only from the first binary counter stage through outlet passage 18 resulting in utilization device 52 displaying a reading of 1. As is readily seen the counter is now counting down.

As will be readily understood by one familiar with the art, the provision of a stream through inlet nozzle 30 of exclusive gate 26 causes the counter to count up while the termination of this stream causes the counter to count down. This procedure may be continued in any particular desired sequence with the utilization device displaying a reading of the net result. As will also be understood by one familiar with the art, when the present up and down counter is used in a continuous manner, as when parts are counted in a bin, a shift register with accompanying fluid logic elements or the like would be used in conjunction with the utilization device so that the total count reached up to that point will be maintained when the counting direction is reversed. Any other means for maintaining the count may also be used in connection with the up and down counter of this invention and no particular means form part of the present invention.

One familiar with the art will readily understand that the final design parameters of specific fluid devices will at least be dependent upon fluid density, temperature, and pressure as well as characteristics of the outlet streams at the point of utilization.

I claim:

1. A fluid operated counter comprising first and second counter stages each having an inlet and a first and second outlet, a fluid operated NOR gate having an inlet nozzle, a NOR outlet passage, an OR outlet passage, and a plurality of control nozzles,

the NOR outlet passage being connected to said inlet of said second counter stage, and an exclusive gate having first and second inlet nozzles and a pair of outlet passages,

the first inlet passage of said exclusive gate being connected to said first outlet passage of said first counter stage, said pair of outlet passages of said exclusive gate 5 6 being connected to at least one of said control 3,331,381 7/1967 Quigley 137-815 nozzles of said fluid operated NOR ga e- 3,340,885 9/1967 Bauer 137-815 2. The fluid operated counter of claim 1 further com- 3,350,010 10/1967 Rose. prising a source of fluid signals connected to the second 3,380 655 4 /1968 Swartz XR mlet mule Sald excluslve gate- 3,399,829 9/1968 Richards et a1. 137-815 XR 3. The fluid operated counter of claim 1 further com- 5 prising a utilization device connected to said second outlet of said first and second stages. SAMUEL SCOTT Primary Exammer US. Cl. X.R.

References Cited 10 35 201 UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,199,782 8/1965 Shinn 13781.5XR 

